Winnipeg-based activist and photographer Sheila Spence has captivated audiences through her photographs for the past 25 years. Spence is currently showing 75 photographs at the Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) in an exhibit titled Pictures Of Me.

In its entirety the exhibit focuses on a few different projects that Spence has completed over her 25-year career. The photographs are a formidable display of the delicate intricacies that make up many different kinds of relationships.

Using colleagues, neighbours, friends and family members as subjects, Spence gives her viewers an intimate look into the relationships that she experiences with these people and the relationships that her subjects share with one another.

A large component of the exhibit focuses on Spence’s former neighborhood. The project’s called Portraits of a Neighbourhood: Images of West Broadway.

The project was shown at Gallery C103 at the University of Winnipeg in the ‘90s and was the focus of a lot of controversy. Many parents were upset at the fact that their children were shown using gang symbols. The result was that many of the photos were taken down immediately.

“ The honesty of the photographs really bothered people.

Sheila Spence, artist

“The honesty of the photographs really bothered people,” Spence said during a recent interview.

Perhaps one of the most compelling aspects of Spence’s exhibit is her take on the group portrait. Throughout her show at the WAG, there are several group shots that are framed in such a way that each person is singled out in their own portrait with only part of the person beside them showing.

It’s an entirely uncommon group shot because the emphasis in each frame is on the individual. With small parts of the person they are standing beside shown in the photograph, the viewer can appreciate a subtle look at the body language being displayed, which gives us an intimate look at the way these people relate to each other.

“The connections are so palpable,” Spence said of her distinct group portraits. “It’s a group photo that is more about the individual.”

Spence said that ultimately, her body of work is “about community, and my place in that community,” adding that “it’s really about what changes in my life.”

Viewers of Spence’s exhibit are given an intimate look into the relationships that Spence shares with people in her life, and what she considers to be her place among all of these people. The exhibit also forces viewers to contemplate the relationships they experience in their own lives.

While there are many constants in life throughout the years, there are also many changes that occur. Spence’s work is a beautiful and poignant contemplation of this through the medium of photography.

“It’s crazy how they change, and how they don’t,” Spence said of people and the relationships between people that are the primary focus of her work in this exhibit.

Pictures of Me is on display until Sunday, Feb. 15. Spence will give an artist talk on Thursday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. at the WAG. Cost of admission is $8 for adults and $6 for students. Visit www.wag.mb.ca.